FANSHAWE 77, GEORGE BROWN 49

NORTH YORK, Ont. - The Fanshawe Falcons came flying out of the gate and never looked back against the George Brown Huskies as the Falcons took the opening game of the 2013 belaridirect OCAA Men's Basketball Championship 77-49.

The Falcons burst out of warm-ups and took an early 8-2 over the second seed from the OCAA East Division. The Huskies battled back to trail 10-8 midway through the opening quarter, but were unable to sustain enough offence to challenge Fanshawe this afternoon. Fanshawe led 21-14 at the end of the first quarter with Bryan McDonald leading the way with 12 points. Bruno Silvestin answered with seven for George Brown.

In the second quarter, the Falcons extended their lead to double-digits as they found opening in the Huskies defence from inside the arc. All six of the Falcons field goals in the quarter were for two points. The Huskies, meanwhile, failed to find a balanced attack on offence. Dejazmatch James did his best to keep the game close, scoring 10 of the Huskies 12 points in the quarter. Gareth Edwards scored six for the Falcons who led 36-26 at the half.

George Brown, trailing by 10, looked to open up the game to draw closer in the third quarter. Unfortunately, they were unable to make their shots while turning over the ball numerous times to Fanshawe. The Falcons outscored the Huskies 21-5 in the quarter to take a commanding 57-31 lead into the fourth quarter. Seven Falcons recorded at least two points in the quarter.
With the outcome already known, the two first round opponents played an even fourth quarter which saw the Falcons outscore George Brown 20-18.

McDonald scored a game-high 22 points for the Falcons and was named Player of the Game. Gareth Edwards pitched in 14 points and 12 rebounds. Chavaun Miller-Bennett also added 12 points.

George Brown was led by James and Silvestin who each scored 10 points. Salissou Abdoulkader added eight points and five rebounds. James was named George Brown's Player of the Game.

The Falcons will move on with some question marks as the health of Boyd Vassell and Mike Dubreuil are monitored after each left the floor with injuries during the game.

Earlier in the morning, Fanshawe's Vassel (first-team) and Miller-Bennett (all-Rookie) were named OCAA West all-stars. George Brown placed Silvestrin (first-team) and Abdoulkader (second-team) on the OCAA East all-star team. Huskies coach Jonathan Smith was named OCAA East coach of the year.

The Falcons advance to play Sheridan on Friday at 6 p.m. while George Brown will face Centennial Friday at 1 p.m.

Source: Seneca College